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If you really want to develop, and use servers in Linux, you might want to go the CLI (Cash/Command Line Interface) route. For these tasks you want to learn the CLI anyways, and might give Debian or Ubuntu Server (Defaults to not use a KDE/Gnome Desktop Environment) a try. I can understand using IceWM, since it is lightweight, and so that the desktop is a little more familiar, but really, once you start getting into it, you are really fooling yourself comparing any core inner-workings to Windows.

Although many distributions have come up with many GUI server tools, they really lack functionality, and just end up back to the CLI to do your work correctly. I know many might not agree with me, but if someone really wants to learn and embrace the power of Linux, they really need to start with the surface below the GUI. I guess it really depends on how much you want to learn, and how dedicated you really are to work with Linux.

If you want to ease into it, running these servers on Windows is not a bad choice for learning. The config files are pretty much the same, and the knowledge you aquire can be contributed to the Linux versions of the config files for these servers.

Windows XP Pro runs fine at an alright speed on it. its reasonable, not too slow. I don't do a whole lot of multitasking, I'm used to using it with patience.

Count yourself lucky! I had major issues running Windows XP on a Athlon 1700+ with 768MB of RAM. After a few weeks the file system fragments and starts slowing down the system.

On the flip side I have a 600mhz 256MB RAM box running Fedora Core 3 (using IceWM) and it's pretty snappy.

"In the heat of conversation I may have said certain things I believe to be untrue. The alleged lie that you might have heard me saying allegedly moments ago ... thats a parasite that lives in my neck." -- Tad Ghostal